I colpsed onto my back, the weight of everything finally settling in. The tension I had been holding in my chest unraveled all at once. Now that the danger had passed, I could actually feel how close it had come—how my life had practically dangled on a thread.

  It was a reckless move. One wrong breath and I would’ve been trampled.

  But what had stayed in my hand—what had made me kneel—was Trevon’s voice echoing in my memory: “It looked at me like it was asking for help.”

  And somehow, I’d held on to that. If the baby could ask for help… then maybe, just maybe, the mother could understand it when help was truly offered.

  I spoke to her with words I meant. And she listened.

  Theoden, Constantine—all still catching their breath—walked over to me.

  Constantine was the first to extend a hand. “You alive?” he asked, dryly.

  “Barely,” I muttered, gripping his hand as he helped me up.

  Theoden cpped a firm hand on my back, nodding silently—his way of saying well done.

  Nearby, Trevon had dropped to the ground too, ft on his back, arms stretched out as if to offer himself to the sky.

  “That was—” he gasped, “the most terrifying ten minutes of my life.”

  Theoden walked over to him and hauled him to his feet with ease.

  When Trevon and I locked eyes, the absurdity of it all hit at once—and we both burst out ughing. Loud, wheezing, absolutely necessary ughter. We were alive, no one was missing an arm, and the piglet hadn’t skewered Trevon mid-cradle.

  Theoden raised a brow. “What’s so funny?”

  “Absolutely nothing,” Trevon managed through his ugh. “And everything.”

  Theoden and Constantine exchanged a look before giving in and ughing with us.

  Once we’d all calmed a bit, Theoden turned toward me again, more serious this time.

  “Cassius,” he said, his tone even but ced with quiet respect, “that was reckless. Brave... but mostly reckless.”

  “Agreed,” Constantine added. “You’re lucky she didn’t mount you to a tree like a trophy.” His eyes flicked toward the forest. “Still… not bad.”

  I shook my head lightly, voice softer now. “She wasn’t trying to hurt us. She was protecting her young. That was all she knew how to do.”

  Trevon huffed, raking a hand through his messy hair. “Yeah, well, she almost succeeded. And I was the one carrying her little tusk-faced gremlin.”

  I raised a brow, smirking. “Tusk-faced gremlin? You mean the one you cradled like a baby and whispered lulbies to?”

  “I did not whisper lulbies!” he said, scandalized.

  “You hushed it, Trev,” Theoden chimed in with a grin. “You literally rocked it back and forth.”

  “I was trying to calm it down!” Trevon protested. “It was for survival. Nothing more!”

  “You even gave it a name,” I teased. “Was it 'Buddy' or 'Snouty'?”

  Trevon’s jaw dropped. “It was a moment of weakness!”

  Constantine let out a bark of ughter. “What really got me was your face when you realized the mother had spotted you. I wish I’d sketched it.”

  That set us off again.

  Theoden ughed until he had to brace a hand against a tree, and even I couldn’t stop the grin tugging at my lips.

  “Hey!” Trevon barked defensively. “You try running from a tusked monster while carrying her baby like a sack of potatoes and see what kind of face you make!”

  “You’re the only one who’d make that face,” Theoden replied with a mock sigh.

  The ughter slowly faded into quiet chuckles, then into silence—the peaceful kind, like the world had finally exhaled with us.

  I sat down near the fire, letting the warmth of the embers sink into my skin. The orange glow flickered over our faces, casting the clearing in a soft, comforting light.

  Theoden sank down beside me, eyes still watching the trees.

  “That was a good call,” he said. “To kneel. To not escate.”

  I nodded, thoughtful. “I remembered someone once said… fear can’t be met with more fear. Only understanding.”

  That line stuck with me. It always had.

  Inwardly, I added, It was something Trevon used to say in my previous life…

  Theoden smiled faintly. “That’s Master Ba’s teaching. You’re already living by his principles. He’ll definitely like you.”

  So it was Master Ba after all, I thought. I see…

  From behind us, Constantine groaned dramatically. “Alright. That was noble and touching and all that—really. But next time, can we not adopt every wounded animal in the forest?”

  Trevon raised his hand from where he was sprawled on the grass again. “Seconded.” He paused. “Wait… does this mean I can’t keep it if I see it again?”

  “Trev.”

  “What? I think we had a connection.”

  ? 2025 baobaochong – All rights reserved.